Daily Mirror stops the sales rot

The Daily Mirror appears to have halted its circulation decline, according to an analysis of the latest ABC figures for the month of October.

First, consider its print sales performance compared to The Sun's. Over the past year, the Mirror's sales have fallen from 1,118,120 to 1,064,292, a drop of 4.8%.

By contrast, The Sun's sales have fallen from 2,715,473 to 2,384,895, a drop of 12.2%.

Second, it compares favourably with the Daily Star, which has dropped by 13.8% over the course of 12 months.

Third, consider this interesting statistic. During October this year, the Daily Express and Daily Star combined sold an average of 1,101,508 copies a day. That was 37,216 more than the Mirror's total.

But look back to October 2011, and the gap between the Express-Star combination and the Mirror was 155,104. That is a very significant

Fourth, the Mirror's year-on-year decline is smaller than the Daily Mail's, though the latter remains a whopping 800,000 ahead.

Note also that the Mirror, with a cover price of 45p, is dearer than The Sun (40p) and the Star (35p). For the record, the Express is 50p and the Mail is 55p. All titles may discount in various areas, however.